Chili Peppers Continue To Burn Euro Chart Rivals

Gnarls Barkley rises to No. 2.

In the face of a strong challenge from labelmate Gnarls Barkley, Warner Bros.' Red Hot Chili Peppers starts a fourth week atop European Top 100 Albums with "Stadium Arcadium." The album maintains its lead in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Ireland and Greece.

"Arcadium" climbs 7-6 in Portugal, holds at No. 2 in Hungary and the Belgian region of Flanders and No. 3 in Norway. However, the double-album falls 1-2 in Italy, Denmark and the United Kingdom, where it loses top spot to Orson's "Bright Idea" (Mercury). That album debuts at No. 1 on U.K. sales of 47,000, and arrives at No. 7 on Top 100 Albums. It includes the Californian band's U.K. chart-topper from March, "No Tomorrow," which is in its 14th week in the top 40 of the British singles chart at No. 36. The follow-up, "Bright Idea," reached No. 11 two weeks ago.

Gnarls Barkley's "St.Elsewhere" is up 8-2 on the composite chart, following climbs of 19-2 in Austria, 5-4 in Norway and Denmark and a No. 6 debut in Germany. It also holds at No. 2 in Switzerland. Its lead track "Crazy," which topped Eurochart Hot 100 Singles last week after four weeks at No. 2, falls back into the runner-up slot. Epic's "Hips Don't Lie," by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean, regains its European crown after climbing 2-1 in Germany.

In the United Kingdom, the nine-week reign of "Crazy" ends following the deletion of the track by Warner Bros. on May 29. It's replaced at No. 1 by Scottish-born, south London-based 24-year-old Sandi Thom's "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)" (RCA), which has weekly sales of 39,000. Thom was signed by RCA after live performances from her apartment in south London were Web cast to a widespread audience, largely via word of mouth and Internet publicity.

Pink enjoys a good week on both pan-European sales charts, rebounding 15-6 on Top 100 Albums with "I'm Not Dead" (LaFace/Zomba) after it jumped 12-5 in its ninth week on the British chart. The single "Who Knew" is up 64-11 on the Eurochart after a 19-5 climb in the United Kingdom.

Mike Leon Grosch enters Top 100 Albums at No. 9 with "Absolute/Basic" (Hansa), after the set opened at No. 2 on the German chart. Grosch, a graduate of Germany's "Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar" talent series, hit No. 1 there with the single "Don't Let It Get You Down" a month ago.

German pop duo Rosenstolz is up 35-10 with "Das Grosse Leben" (Universal Island). It's the album's third separate time in the top ten of the aggregate survey, after it debuted at No. 8 in March. That entry was fuelled by No. 1 starts in Germany and Austria, where it now bounces back 8-3 and 6-5 respectively.

The highest new entry on the Eurochart, at No. 6, is Nelly Furtado's "Maneater" (Geffen), which opens at No. 4 in Germany and No. 8 in the United Kingdom. That's a better U.K. ranking than any of the three chart singles from her sophomore album "Folklore" in late 2003 and 2004, the highest of which, "Powerless (Say What You Want)", peaked at No. 13. The label puts worldwide sales of that album at two million, and of its 2001 predecessor "Whoa, Nelly!" at five million. Furtado's new album "Loose" is released internationally June 12.